Why you are hungry at four in the afternoon

Four o'clock hunger has a reputation it does not deserve. It is treated as a failure of willpower, when it is almost always the predictable result of what happened at breakfast and lunch.

Four reasons, in order of how often they are the cause

1. Lunch was mostly carbohydrate

A sandwich, a pastry, a bowl of pasta with sauce. Pleasant, quick, and missing the two things that make a meal last: protein and fibre. A lunch with a palm of protein and a fist or two of vegetables sits very differently by mid-afternoon.

2. Breakfast was too small, or too sweet

If breakfast was coffee and something sweet, the hunger you feel at four is partly the hunger you postponed at eleven. It tends to arrive all at once, and usually when the nearest food is whatever is in the office cupboard.

3. You are thirsty

Not as often as the internet claims, but often enough to be worth ruling out first. A glass of water costs nothing and takes two minutes to answer the question.

4. It is a habit, not hunger

Four o'clock is when concentration dips and the day feels long. Eating is a reliable way to take a break. That is not a character flaw, but it does mean the fix is a break rather than food: a walk round the block, a cup of tea, five minutes outside.

What to change

Not the afternoon — the morning. Push protein into breakfast and lunch and the afternoon takes care of itself for most people. Roughly a palm of protein at each meal is the simplest version of that rule.

And if you are still hungry

Then eat. Hunger at four in the afternoon is information, not a test to pass, and skipping food usually means a larger, faster dinner. A snack that holds:

• Greek yogurt with berries
• A boiled egg and a piece of fruit
• Cottage cheese on rye
• Hummus with carrot and pepper
• A handful of nuts with an apple

What these have in common is protein or fibre, usually both. A biscuit has neither, which is why the hunger comes back at half past four.

General wellness information, not medical or personalised nutrition advice. Persistent hunger, or hunger that feels difficult to manage, is worth raising with a doctor or a registered dietitian.